By Sammy Ginsberg
Excited to introduce you to the art of Sammy Ginsberg!! (Aka meee!!)
BIO
Sammy is an organizer, teacher, and writer based between London & Los Angeles. She believes her purpose while alive is to play a role in nurturing the infrastructure of support for writers and teachers of writing. In alignment with this mission, she is the co-director of the Los Feliz Writers Festival and the co-director of the CSUN Writing Project. She also edits two zines, The Feminist Toilet & TrashLit just for funsies, and writes blooks!
Q&A
LP: How would you describe your art?
I would describe my art as a bit performance art, and a bit activism and a lot of my personality. If I had to pick a genre, I call it auto-fiction or creative non-fiction but I mostly write poetry! I try to keep it funny and light, but also touch on some motifs that are important to me like friendship, family, love, authenticity, health, and joy!
LP: When did you start performing?
TBH I first performed in high school. My first open mic was when I was 17 at a creative writing summer camp in Scotland! When I came back my senior year, I played a sexy granny who dances on a table in the school play and then later performed again at a Hollywood Fringe Fest open mic. Reading my poems and being listened to, really listened to was a type of magic that I sought out ever after.
This kept going until I think I peaked my final year of college when I played the “Woman Who Likes to Make Vaginas Happy” in the Vagina Monologues dressed like a female Steve Jobs, having to make over 10 different orgasm noises in front of 200 of my peers at my Uni! Can find evidence of this performance on my FB! (check out my profile pictures!).
Can probably now see why teaching high school English is not as scary for me as for other people…at the same time, why I have to keep my art and my teaching very separate. For now!
Hoping to start teaching at the University level so I don’t have to worry about not being school appropriate.
Although currently teaching Perks of Being a Wallflower as a substitute teacher (AKA I didn’t choose the book!!)… so what is school appropriate?
LP: Who are your influences?
I have tooo many influences!! Allen Ginsberg (he’s my spiritual grandfather hence the last name :P) AND Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anais Nin, Barbara Kingsolver, Chris Kraus, Joanne Kyger, Mina Loy, Katherine Mansfield, Eve Babitz, Cookie Mueller, Eileen Myles, CA Conrad, Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Waldman, Jacqueline Saphra, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Clive Matson, bell hooks, Paulo Freire, Faith G. Harper, and Dolores Huerta! These are just the ones that I am not friends with.
I am deeply influenced by my friends’ art!! I’d name their names, but I want to ask for permission first and I don’t have time right now. But I will. Plus, I don’t want to come off as cliquey!!
LP: If you were given $1,000 dollars for an art project, what would you do?
Okay, I’ve been dreaming for years of throwing a Clitoris themed party. In college, I had a rap identity that I explored and called myself “Lil Clitty” inspired by Lil Dicky. I wanted to record a music video for one of my raps/songs as Lil Clitty – probably one of my poems from the collection I’m working on called You Owe Me 2 Orgasms that I turn into a ukulele song with some rap in it.
Then at the launch party (gotta have a launch party!!) people can go in a tent and print photos of their clitoris that they make abstract and then go on t-shirts; we have a NGO that does work raising awareness about genital mutilation!! Save the Clitori!! And some education, perhaps the author of Becoming Cliterate Dr. Laurie Minz gives a keynote and workshop!!
And we have lots of artists and poets and songwriters and comedians share their work on the theme of orgasm equality and/or the clitoris!!!!
We have food inspired by the theme, definitely clitoris cupcakes those are my favorite!!
Ooh and we get Planned Parenthood health education involved as well as the Aids Health Foundation, and practicing safe sex and family planning shit!!
Because for women even now sex is mostly about procreation STILL and engaging in it outside of long-term committed relationships where you plan to ride the relationship elevator together is still mostly SHAMED!!!
I know I have deeply internalized it! I still have yet to buy condoms at a store because I’m so anxious about the judgement, and I’m a single, 31 year old ladyy!!
Sex is a basic human need that all people have! And if anyone has seen that brilliant 3 part documentary on the female orgasm called The Principles of Pleasure (I watched part 1 with my grandma!) – research shows that female masturbation is equally if not more effective on insomnia as AMBIEN!!
Anywho, that’s what I would do with $1,000 on an art project. Thanks for listening. If you would like to get involved or donate to this project, please DM ME!! hahaha.
LP: What do you think the function of art is in the 21st century?
I think the function of art in the 21st century is as a vital tool for managing our mental health!! It’s a space to play, express ourselves safely and authentically, to connect and communicate and experiment!!
It’s a way to process the world and all it’s COmPLEXityyy in a way that can truly be archived!! Not this Instagram/ REddit diarrhea that future historians will be like what IS this JUNKKKK. JUST deleteee it!! THis doesn’t need to be stored online in hard drives that are USING SOO much ENERGY and WATER that like LITERALLY the earth is DESTROYED!!!!
DELETE IT!! No ONE CARES. MAKE ART not CONTENT!!!
LP: Why did you sign up to perform at PorchFest 2025?
I signed up to perform because I think the director Hélène is a bad bitch!! Also because ART needs to be ACCESSIBLE. It needs to be every where for every one by EVERYONE.
Let’s do more street art!! Let’s turn side-walks into performance spaces! LA has artists coming out of everyyyyyyy orificieee and yet it is so hard to accesssss!! So Cliquey!! Expensive!! Gatekeepers!! pay to play!!
The creative arts industry is headquartered here, and yet – you’d only know it if you have MONEYYYYYYY. Thing is, most artists don’t have money because the price of their SOUL is MORE than CAPITALISM can PAY for!!
This fest is in alignment with my valuesssss, and that’s why I signed up and why I’m volunteering!!
CHECK OUT THEIR ART
Sammy Ginsberg will be organizing the the Los Feliz Writers Fest Porch on November 2nd from 11am to 5pm at 5000 Franklin AVE!
COME BY and SAY HI!!
If you want to reach out, you can find her on Instagram at LiteraryPixie or email her at seeliterarypixie@gmail.com.
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